Death of Mrs Weir of East St,Pembridge. Husband is pensioner of Queens Life Guards. Mrs Weir removed to workhouse and died there. Death hastened by death of Robert Weir of Scots Guards in action.

Recruit:- G.J.Price, Hardwick, Pembridge

13th February 1915

Infirmary Patients now moved into other quarters in workhouse freeing infirmary for wounded soldiers. War Office has notified Dr. Dryland that accomodation would probably be needed soon at short notice.

Cinema show in Burton Hall, given by T.J.Hammer of Knighton, Border Counties Cinema Co. Proceeds to War Relief Fund.

Local Casualties

Pte. J.Watkins,Broken Bank,K.KSLI sick

Pte.J.Roberts,Church Cottage,Eardisley.KSLI,slight wound.

Mentioned in despatches

Lt.Col.W.H.Greenly,eldest son of E.H.Greenly,of Titley Court.

Kington/Burghill

Death of Pte Frederick Wilkins, son of Mr. Mrs..F.J.Wilkins of Tow Tree,Burghill.Brother of Mrs Bert Blakely of Island Terrace,K In action with Coldstream Guards.7/2/1915.

13th March,1915.

Kington Notes

Sergt.W.M.Chambers of Cheshire Terr:, eldest son of W.C.Chambers of Beeches, K. commissioned in 7th. Batt. Cheshires.

Decided to economise in street lighting to light only one at Upper & Lower Crosses. And one in two of remainder.24 operating 28 sealed up.

(This is just a fragment of the ongoing report of Kington during WWI. It is hoped that the entire article, some 50 pages, will be printed in August).

Dates for your Diary.

At our December meeting 22 of us braved the nasty weather and despite technical hiccoughs thoroughly enjoyed our Christmas Social and Vera’s Quiz.

Our next meeting is on 19th January when Bill Law will be speaking to us about the Herefordshire Home Front in World War One. This will be at 7.30 in Kington Primary School, Mill Street as usual. Members are free, visitors £2 to include refreshments.

This is a brief summary of a talk I gave, beset by technical difficulties with the projector, to the Society on Friday November 17th. A.S.

There had long been a dream of bringing commercial traffic up the rivers Wye and Lugg as far as Hereford and Leominster respectively. In 1695 an Act was passed which made both these projects possible at last. This was followed, two years later, by a survey by Daniel Denell, who specified nineteen problem locations on the River Lugg. These sites were taken in hand, and, within a few years, the whole length of the river was navigable from just below Leominster down to the River Wye at Mordiford. To achieve this a number of mills and weirs were demolished, and the bridges modified in order to provide arches, sufficiently high and wide to take the river traffic. In many cases the central arch of a bridge was broken out, and a temporary drawbridge installed, until a permanent, higher arch was built, usually many years later.

Two of the mills survived, at Hampton Court and Tidnor (below Lugwardine), together with their weirs. Therefore two locks had to be provided to enable boats to pass up- or down-stream. Other locks were constructed just upstream of where the Lugg joined both the Arrow and the Wye, in order to deal with changing differences in the water levels. However, after all this work had been carried out, there appears to have been very little traffic. One new mill was even constructed after the navigation work had been completed – Lugg Bridge Mill, just downstream of the main Hereford to Worcester road. Alongside this a fifth lock had to be built.

At Tidnor, the mill was converted to an iron foundry, and this must have relied on river transport for conveying heavy loads in and out. Lugg Bridge Mill expanded in the early 19th century to become the largest in the county, and is thought to have shipped much grain in and flour out by boat.

Goods on the Lugg Navigation would have been conveyed primarily by trows. These were specialised sailing craft, broad in the beam and with almost flat bottoms. Propelled by sail or hauled by men, the trow had a mast which could be lowered for passing under bridges. The trow was purpose-made for the job. “The Hereford Bull”, built for the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant in 2012, is a modern example.

Use of the Navigation upstream of Lugg Bridge Mill appears to have ceased by the 1830s. The last phase of the Gloucester to Hereford Canal was completed in 1845 and an aqueduct to carry it across the Lugg was built with low arches, thus finally sealing the fate of navigation upstream. Some river transport downstream of Lugg Bridge Mills continued for a while, but the river gradually reverted to its former state. To a casual observer there is little to be seen now of the River Lugg’s former adaptation and use as a commercial waterway.

There is still much field evidence remaining, however. The old road bridges, viewed from the riverside, show arches which had to be raised, and maybe widened. The locks, too, have all left their traces. These are testament to an extraordinary amount of hard work and ingenuity which never really resulted in a satisfactory link between Leominster and the navigable River Severn.

After a super insight into her novel Mysteries of Glass, thirteen of us made the walk from Kington to Parkstile, as the fictional young curate would have done frequently in his time at Lyonshall Church. Victorian dress was optional, I raided the dressing up box and upon our arrival at the cottage one of our youngest members dressed as a Victorian girl. It certainly created the atmosphere needed to make the whole experience perfect and as authentic as possible. Julia Reid led our walk and pointed out various places on the way, including tram and railway lines, weirs and mill ruins but the most memorable was the picnic site by the river, that many a Kingtonian visited back in the times when simple pleasures made a perfect Sunday afternoon. It certainly provoked lots of conversation from the members who were walking, and memories came flooding back of paddling in the river, ball games, kite flying and jam sandwiches. The weather was kind to us and we all made it to the cottage in one piece, passing the Station master’s cottage, we all looked up at the window where, in the book, Alice looked down to see Richard arrive at the station on that cold dark night in 1860. It was quite a moment as those who had read the book knew of the story that unfolded afterwards and the relationship he built with this family.

We were greeted at the cottage by Sue and were immediately made to feel at home, her generosity and hospitality was appreciated by all who came. The lighting of the fires made the cottage feel alive and when Sue showed everyone around pointing out where Richard entertained his Mother and sisters, where he wrote his sermons and the place where he had a close encounter with Susannah. Tea was served by three of our most valuable society members, Thelma, Anne and Carolyn. I think it goes without saying it was relished by all. Sue took the members who came by car, to the Station master’s cottage down the lane and everyone agreed it brought the book to life especially when the cows came in to the back field and peered into the kitchen window, just as they had in the novel. After tea I do not think anyone was in a rush to leave, but eventually we all did and left Sue & her son alone in the most evocative cottage I had ever been in. Huge thanks again to Sue and her son for allowing us to invade their space and share the experience of the novel’s beginnings.

Nancy Wheatland.

Dates for your Diary.

Many members will know of Alan Stoyel’s long-standing interest in large, even huge scale engineering projects in the broadest sense, including of course the Mills Open Weekend. On 17th November Alan will be talking to us on another watery engineering theme, ‘Lugg Navigation’.

The meeting will be at 7.30 in Kington Primary School, Mill Street as usual. Members are free, visitors £2, which includes tea or coffee and biscuits.

Friday 15th September. Talk by Sue Gee author of Mysteries of Glass and how she researched the details of Kington for the book.

It was a good turn out for our first night back into the programme and a very inspiring evening for all who attended.

Sue Gee was very generous with her information and how she starts her novels. We all got a quick lesson in Creative writing, which was fascinating in itself, but when she started on the Kington aspect of the book we all realised how much she got from our now President, Vera Harrison, who was then the KHS secretary. Vera started by sending Sue some local names for her to use as characters in the book and then a shop by shop account of the High St in 1860. Sue obviously fabricated some of the events, but the social history of the era gave her a wide scope to make the book alive with the history of the time. She found the Skarratt Diaries and Parry books

invaluable for putting some colour into the story she was writing and her own background knowledge of the church and farming just added to the whole affair and made it all so much more believable. Her search into the past history of her cottage also added to the intrigue as it was owned by the Diocese of Hereford and a curate named Allen was on the circuit at that time so the picture unfolded even more. She read many local Radnorshire books and was able to get the whole County feel in to the story. Her descriptions of the railways, the dress of the day and the language is all from social history books and Dickens “Hard Times” which was set in Victorian times and perfect for the story. Sue makes the novel very believable as she wrote most of it sitting in the very rooms of the cottage that the young curate would have sat, watching the cows in the top field and walking the paths that have not changed much over the years. The only thing missing was the noise of the railway, the smell of the coal and steam, but as a very established author Sue was very competent in making that real too. In the book you can hear, you can see, you can smell all the things she describes, good and bad, so even the market gets the pungent smell of the animals over your sensory glands. The Prayermint just goes to show the power of belief in this book and the skill of the author making us all think it is a real flower.

I am not sure if I totally understood the reasoning behind the title but I guess all authors are allowed some artistic licence. The talk was both warming and inspiring, informative and enjoyable, intriguing and sensual, just like the book. If you have not read it yet please make some time to get hold of a copy I can thoroughly recommend it. Thank you again Sue for a super insight into writing this novel “Mysteries of Glass”.

Review by Nancy Wheatland

(It was a happy day for the Society when Sue came in carrying a reading lamp which had just been repaired by Tom Bounds. Our quarters were at the library then and we had many visitors. Of course, we were pleased to help with any local colour. Sue borrowed many familiar names and you will meet them again in the book wearing the apparel of the 1860s. All Kingtonians will recognise Tom Bounds as a cheeky little boy running around Lyonshall, and other names in different guises). VH.

There is much more than Sue’s book to be reviewed, as the day following her talk members were invited to her cottage and all had a wonderful time. There is not enough space left in this Bulletin for a full report, and therefore the review will appear in next month’s issue.

Dates for your Diary

Our October meeting is on 20th and is our AGM and discussion of future of Kington History Society – 40 years old this year! There will be a display of local postcards, courtesy of Dunfield House. Please come and join us as there are some important things to discuss, and the committee really needs some more volunteers to help keep the Society running.

The meeting will be at 7.30 in Kington Primary School, Mill Street as usual. Members are free, visitors £2, which includes tea or coffee, biscuits and a cake for our 40th birthday.

Having no reports of talks and visits this month, it is hoped that the following extract will find favour with you.

From Memories of Kington by William Edwards

Remembering a Kington Artist

Mr. Charles Job Humphreys, A.R.A., was a printer and bookbinder, bookseller, etc., and owner of the Kington Gazette. He had a high and deserved reputation as a portrait painter. In the magistrates’ room at the Police Station you may see one of his paintings, a police magistrate who lived 100 years ago. He told me he was commissioned to paint the portrait of Lady Hawkins in the Grammar School, but he could make nothing of it. Would I have a look at it. I found it in a deplorable state, for it seemed to me that the old boys had made a target of it. Many years later I visited Hampton Court (1916) where I saw a vast number of ladies’ portraits of bygone reigns exhibited and stored. I did not see Lady Hawkins’s portrait, but I feel sure it was there. I saw very little difference in all the ladies of the Elizabethan age.

Mr. Humphreys borrowed from Lord Oxford of Eywood one of his very valuable paintings so that he might paint a copy, and he lent him his favourite painting “Lady Oxford and her Child.” The young lady became Lady Langdale, who in 1869 sent five or six of her paintings to be cleaned, in which duty I was called to help him. At the time I was his printer’s devil, dating from 1868. I had no idea that the paintings were worth thousands. After putting them to soak, he said “Give me down Lady Oxford.” I wondered what he would do to it as I understood he had finished it years ago. I watched him take it out of the frame and paint in blue the name of the painter of the original. I quarrelled with him for not putting his own name. He laughed heartily at my earnestness and explained fully that it was a copy only, and he put the artist’s name in so that in time to come it might be sold for thousands. I made mental reserva­tions, but I did not buy it. A lady bought it for 30s. Later she sold it for 3.15s., and the buyer sent it to London where it was sold for £2,800. (I write from memory.) Naturally his daughters were vexed because they had passed through years of scarcity, but had recently received welcome news of an allowance from Australia. Probably from Mr. Hall or her nephews, Harold and John Humphreys, when the Mount Morgan gold mines were sold. Miss Humphreys wrote me a long letter asking to do what I could, if the painting was sold publicly, to keep her father’s name before the public as the real painter. I never told them that I saw him paint the name. I have the letter, but cannot get it just now to give fuller details.

An amusing incident occurred when Mr. Bufton, of Lyonshall Post Office, had his portrait painted and I took it over one Sunday afternoon. Everybody who then saw it said it was very life-like. It was really an excellent likeness, yet two weeks later he called and said many folk said it was a failure. Will you touch it up, Charles, just a bit? So, back it came, and I hung it up for six weeks, when he called for it. He was delighted and so were his daughters and friends. It had never been touched.

Books and Bric-a-Brac sale Monthly at the Museum.

To assist funding, the KHS runs a stall every third Saturday to help with the (heavy) expenditure of both the Museum and the Society. If you have any items which you can spare, please get on the phone to Julia, number above, who will give you further particulars. The stall is situated under the Museum’s canopy, so you can be sure that your offerings do not get wet. Any items more suitable for St. Michael’s Hospice will be transported there by Julia. Come along about 10.30.

Talk 15th September; visit to Parkstile on 16th.

Our next visit is to Parkstile Cottage in Lyonshall on 16th September, followed by tea in the cottage. If you would like to join us please phone Nancy on 01544 230691 as soon as possible.

The evening before, 15th September, Sue Gee will be talking about the research into her novel “Mysteries of Glass” in the Lyonshall area, which starts in Parkstile Cottage. The talk will be at 7.30 in Kington Primary School as usual. Do come and join us – members are free, visitors £2, which includes tea or coffee and biscuits.

As was mentioned at our recent meeting, we would also welcome more members on the committee, in particular with arranging future speakers and visits. Do phone if you feel you can help. Thank you.

Subscription changes.

Owing to increases in all our expenditure, the subs. are changing (euphemism!) on October 1st.

This event was a rare opportunity to see the archive room at Hergest which is not usually open to the public and therefore was well attended by our members on both the morning and the afternoon tours.

Heather Pegg, the archivist, gave a full history of how the Banks family arrived at Hergest and the start up of the archive room in 1925.

We all recognise the significance of social history and how it influences the outcome of how and what we are, but back in the 18th & 19th century it was even more important and verbal stories handed down needed to be written and clarified for future inheritance and the like. The archivist pointed out the union between the Harley and the Banks families and how land and titles get “blurred” when records are not available.

On display, were scrap books, diaries, school reports, photographs, a small part of the huge fossil collection, shells collected by the family, hand-made lace items and lots more. This display was well received and enjoyed. It was obvious that the work done in the archive department is a lifetime’s work and there is still more to be discovered and exposed, as not all the old books and documents have yet been explored.

This was a wonderful step into one family history and brought to light the times they endured and in which they lived.

Review: Nancy Wheatland.

Increase in Annual Subscriptions. An announcement from our Treasurer.

Dear Members,

Our Annual Subscriptions are being increased as of 1st October 2017. Single Membership will rise to £12.00 and Family Membership to £17.00. The increase is owing to an increase in the room rental at the Primary School and paying for the Library room in the Museum. Speakers are now charging higher fees and some asking for travel expenses. To keep our Society going this increase is essential. If you wish to pay your subscription through your bank our details are: HSBC, 1 Broad Street, Leominster, Herefordshire HR6 8BU Sort code 40 28 13 account no. 21154419. We do hope you will still think we offer good value and will continue your association with us.

Dates for your Diary.

Our next visit is to Parkstile Cottage in Lyonshall on 16th September, followed by tea in the cottage. If you would like to join us please phone Nancy on 01544 230691 as soon as possible. The evening before, 15th September, Sue Gee will be talking about the research into her novel “Mysteries of Glass” in the Lyonshall area, which starts in Parkstile Cottage. The talk will be at 7.30 in Kington Primary School as usual. Do come and join us – members are free, visitors £2, which includes tea or coffee and biscuits.

As was mentioned at our recent meeting, we would also welcome more members on the committee, in particular with arranging future speakers and visits. Do phone if you feel you can help. Thank you.

Oak framed houses of every size are prominent in the Western Midlands, and their design and building matched contemporary styles and skills over many centuries, from the basic ‘long house’ of the early Middle Ages, to the elaborate and highly decorative mansions of the Tudor era. As the supply of suitable timber dried up, the superior craftsmanship of the carpenters became veiled by plaster, and replaced by building in brick and stone.

“The Rodd” near Presteigne, a prosperous Gentry farmhouse along the old road between Hereford and Presteigne, via Stansbatch, has a building date of 1629, so is of stone with a brick front and chimneys, and a tiled roof, and the basic linear layout includes an addition redolent of the period – a library! The doors and their cases, and panelling, and any interior beams are all richly but tastefully worked in ovolo moulding, but the greatest skill and design has been shown in the carving of the overmantels, with heraldic shields, and in one room, representations of Adam and Eve with all due modesty, and a lurking snake with an apple displayed, and perhaps a foretaste of “the future”, – a dragon. The ceilings are now plastered, between the nicely worked strops, and in a bit of a throw back, there is a nice apotropaeic symbol in the attic, to ward off evil spirits.

The barn is entirely of the period – oak framed and boarded, but now contains accommodation for many cattle, as a better food supply has been developed, allowing them to survive the winters, and near the stabling for valuable horses, is a sleeping platform, with nicely chamfered beams in attendance.

“Upper Dolley”, upstream of Presteigne, complete with the new ‘water meadows’ of the late 1500’s, is a contrast – initially a strongly decorated timber framed farm, demonstrating Presteigne’s rise in prosperity, strikingly jetted and gabled, but falling on hard times – much became plastered over, and ancient solid barge boards, are being reused to support staircase steps. Even later, it got more plastered over, and needed a serious rescue operation, but we can still relate to the original carpenter, as he left an outline of his hand, greeting our arrival, engraved on a bracket of the jettied porch.

Eyton Court, near Leominster, long associated with the prominent Hakluyt family, is similar in age (1530), with a close studded jetty, and lots of careful mouldings, with a brick cross wing added later, but demonstrating best of all, the highly decorated plaster work used in ceiling panels, and at every intersection, a beautifully carved boss – all completely different.

On a totally different scale, up country in Shropshire, is Pitchford Hall, of 1549, – once everyones’ conception of a Tudor Mansion, described as “one of the most beautiful and romantic of all timber framed houses”, initially with vertically framed ‘close studding’, but with additions creating a “dazzling display of diamond and herring bone work”. Fortunately, any restorations were carefully done, preserving the graceful ageing of the timber work, and all is crowned by numerous brick chimney stacks, with over 250 separate flues, demonstrating the size and affluence of the old estate, but the problem now is that the property has been empty for more than 20 years, being described as “at risk”, but hopefully there will be a handsome prince along sometime, to rescue this sleeping beauty. Review JR.

The Hymns Farm, Walton, Powys, LD8 2RA‎ (it’s just off the Kinnerton Road from the A44). This is one of the properties that Duncan James referred to at our last meeting. The gardens are open to the public through the National Gardens Scheme on 20th and 21st May from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days. Sadly the house will not be open but there will be a print out of Duncan’s notes on the outside of the building. The WI and Old Radnor Church will provide refreshments and there will also be pottery, books, plants etc. for sale. Entry is £3.50 in aid of the NGS cancer related charities. It would be great to see KHS Members there.

After Easter we start our summer outings with visits to Hergest Croft Archives on 8th May (some places are still available for the afternoon tour) and Parkstile Cottage in Lyonshall on 16th September, followed by tea in the cottage. If you would like to join us please phone Nancy on 01544 230691 or Julia on 01544 231663 as soon as possible.

As was mentioned at our recent meeting, we would also welcome more members on the committee, in particular with arranging future speakers and visits, as Nancy will be stepping down as Programme Secretary in the autumn. Do phone if you feel you can help. Thank you. Editor, Vera Harrison.